Casco Bay High School is the Maine state representative for the 2014
Larry O’Toole Award from the Nellie Mae Foundation! According to the
Nellie Mae Foundation website, “The Larry O’Toole Award is an annual
leadership award given out by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to an
individual or organization that has exhibited great leadership through
innovation or courage in moving student-centered approaches to learning
forward. This year, the award is structured as a public voting contest.
The nominee with the most votes will receive a grant of $100,000 for their organization or school. Voting will be live until September 30, 2014 at 12:00 pm EST.”

CBHS is in the midst of a three-year
expansion from 280 to 400 students. Winning this award would allow us to
narrow the gap between our vision for student-centered learning and our
daily practice. Specifically:

$50,000 would be allocated to scholarships that ensure that all CBHS
students, regardless of family income, can continue to participate in
our most transformative educational experiences – the Freshmen Quest,
the Junior Journey and the Senior Quest- even as we expand.

$25,000 would be dedicated to supplies and equipment for a nascent
“Maker Lab” so CBHS students would have more opportunity to explore,
design, invent, experiment, create, tinker, fail and try again through
STEM

$15,000 would be reserved for micro-grants to help students actualize promising plans for addressing local needs.

$10,000 would be set aside to expand our capacity for hosting
visiting educators and leading workshops on student-centered learning.

Please spread the word to other CBHS supporters. As our Pathways to
Success advise, Work Ethically and Build Community. You only need to
vote once. When voting, you will have to share your e-mail, but the
Nellie Mae Foundation vows to never share e-mail addresses received.
Thanks for your support.

Here’s a link to a recent segment about the CBHS nomination on WCSH’s “207.”